AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 8149 - PM Modi suggests Aadhaar-based e-tracking of pension cases

In 2009, I became extremely concerned with the concept of Unique Identity for various reasons. Connected with many like minded highly educated people who were all concerned.

On 18th May 2010, I started this Blog to capture anything and everything I came across on the topic. This blog with its million hits is a testament to my concerns about loss of privacy and fear of the ID being misused and possible Criminal activities it could lead to.

In 2017 the Supreme Court of India gave its verdict after one of the longest hearings on any issue. I did my bit and appealed to the Supreme Court Judges too through an On Line Petition.

In 2019 the Aadhaar Legislation has been revised and passed by the two houses of the Parliament of India making it Legal. I am no Legal Eagle so my Opinion carries no weight except with people opposed to the very concept.

In 2019, this Blog now just captures on a Daily Basis list of Articles Published on anything to do with Aadhaar as obtained from Daily Google Searches and nothing more. Cannot burn the midnight candle any longer.

"In Matters of Conscience, the Law of Majority has no place"- Mahatma Gandhi

Ram Krishnaswamy

Sydney, Australia.

Aadhaar

The UIDAI has taken two successive governments in India and the entire world for a ride. It identifies nothing. It is not unique. The entire UID data has never been verified and audited. The UID cannot be used for governance, financial databases or anything. It’s use is the biggest threat to national security since independence. – Anupam Saraph 2018

When I opposed Aadhaar in 2010 , I was called a BJP stooge. In 2016 I am still opposing Aadhaar for the same reasons and I am told I am a Congress die hard. No one wants to see why I oppose Aadhaar as it is too difficult. Plus Aadhaar is FREE so why not get one ? Ram Krishnaswamy

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.-Mahatma Gandhi

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.Mahatma Gandhi

“The invasion of privacy is of no consequence because privacy is not a fundamental right and has no meaning under Article 21. The right to privacy is not a guaranteed under the constitution, because privacy is not a fundamental right.” Article 21 of the Indian constitution refers to the right to life and liberty -Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi

“There is merit in the complaints. You are unwittingly allowing snooping, harassment and commercial exploitation. The information about an individual obtained by the UIDAI while issuing an Aadhaar card shall not be used for any other purpose, save as above, except as may be directed by a court for the purpose of criminal investigation.”-A three judge bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar said in an interim order.

Legal scholar Usha Ramanathan describes UID as an inverse of sunshine laws like the Right to Information. While the RTI makes the state transparent to the citizen, the UID does the inverse: it makes the citizen transparent to the state, she says.

Good idea gone bad
I have written earlier that UID/Aadhaar was a poorly designed, unreliable and expensive solution to the really good idea of providing national identification for over a billion Indians. My petition contends that UID in its current form violates the right to privacy of a citizen, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. This is because sensitive biometric and demographic information of citizens are with enrolment agencies, registrars and sub-registrars who have no legal liability for any misuse of this data. This petition has opened up the larger discussion on privacy rights for Indians. The current Article 21 interpretation by the Supreme Court was done decades ago, before the advent of internet and today’s technology and all the new privacy challenges that have arisen as a consequence.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP Rajya Sabha

“What is Aadhaar? There is enormous confusion. That Aadhaar will identify people who are entitled for subsidy. No. Aadhaar doesn’t determine who is eligible and who isn’t,” Jairam Ramesh

But Aadhaar has been mythologised during the previous government by its creators into some technology super force that will transform governance in a miraculous manner. I even read an article recently that compared Aadhaar to some revolution and quoted a 1930s historian, Will Durant.Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Rajya Sabha MP

“I know you will say that it is not mandatory. But, it is compulsorily mandatorily voluntary,” Jairam Ramesh, Rajya Saba April 2017.

August 24, 2017: The nine-judge Constitution Bench rules that right to privacy is “intrinsic to life and liberty”and is inherently protected under the various fundamental freedoms enshrined under Part III of the Indian Constitution

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the World; indeed it's the only thing that ever has"

“Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” -Edward Snowden

In the Supreme Court, Meenakshi Arora, one of the senior counsel in the case, compared it to living under a general, perpetual, nation-wide criminal warrant.

Had never thought of it that way, but living in the Aadhaar universe is like living in a prison. All of us are treated like criminals with barely any rights or recourse and gatekeepers have absolute power on you and your life.

Announcing the launch of the # BreakAadhaarChainscampaign, culminating with events in multiple cities on 12th Jan. This is the last opportunity to make your voice heard before the Supreme Court hearings start on 17th Jan 2018. In collaboration with @no2uidand@rozi_roti.

UIDAI's security seems to be founded on four time tested pillars of security idiocy

1) Denial

2) Issue fiats and point finger

3) Shoot messenger

4) Bury head in sand.

God Save India

Saturday, June 20, 2015

8149 - PM Modi suggests Aadhaar-based e-tracking of pension cases - Business Today

PM Modi suggests Aadhaar-based e-tracking of pension cases

PTI New Delhi Last Updated: June 15, 2015 | 18:36 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has suggested an Aadhaar -based online system to check delay in processing cases of pensions.

The Prime Minister during a recent video-conference, while discussing problems being faced by Defence pensioners, with senior government officials of Personnel and other ministries had "stressed the need for using Aadhaar based system solutions".

The Prime Minister suggested putting in place an e-tracking system to monitor delays in pension cases."He (had) also stated that e-tracking of pension matter would be a good step towards preventing delays," according to minutes of meeting held on June 3, on Aadhaar-based authentication of life certificate for pensioners.

"It was agreed that possibilities of the Online Tracking System for Pension Sanction and Payment (Bhavishya) being adopted by Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Defence, Department of Posts and Department of Telecommunications would be explored," it said.

Officials from Department of Financial Services (DFS), present during the meeting, informed that all banks have started accepting digital life certificates (DLCs). So far, 2,06,024 pensioners have submitted DLCs. Of these, 1,47,629 take pension through banks and 35,135 through Defence Pension Disbursement Offices.

There are about 55 lakh central government pensioners across the country.

Representatives of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) informed the meeting that Ministry of Railways, Indian Army and Indian Air Force have been appointed as registrars for enrolment for Aadhaar numbers.

There was a concern expressed by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) "over very high rate of rejection" of DLCs by the system , as the user tended to loose confidence in the process.

"It was agreed that for every rejection of the DLC, the system shall indicate the reason for rejection in the form of a speaking order. It was also hoped that during November, 2015, up to 50 per cent pensioners ought to avail benefit from 'Jeevan Pramaan'," the minutes said.

The Prime Minister had in November last year launched an Aadhaar-based biometric verification system Jeevan Pramaan to enable pensioners to submit a digital life certificate on-line.

Jeevan Pramaan aims at sparing the pensioners and family pensioners the trouble of visiting bank or any other pension disbursing agency for submission of life certificates.

The DeitY also stressed that UIDAI should facilitate, promote and encourage wide-spread use of Aadhaar number for delivery of public services. Aadhaar numbers of individual beneficiaries should be made available by UIDAI to government agencies on demand, as per the minutes of the meeting.

It was agreed that State Bank of India and UIDAI will organise a camp in Manipur as early as possible to facilitate employees or pensioner in getting enrolled for Aadhaar number and registering them under Jeevan Pramaan software.

It was once again pointed out that there were a number of glaring discrepancies in banks' data, including the number of pensioners above the age of 100 years and a large number of duplicate records in banks' databases. The DFS has once again been asked to instruct banks to get their data cleansed on priority.

During the meeting, the National Informatics Centre (NIC) informed that the posters and pamphlets for giving wide publicity to Jeevan Pramaan are ready for display in bank branches, ATM locations, wellness centres, railway dispensaries, defence canteens, etc. Willing agencies can obtain these posters and pamphlets from NIC, the minutes said.

It was also pointed out that contact numbers of some of the Common Service Centres (CSCs) being circulated were reportedly not correct.

"DeitY informed that 55,000 records have been cleaned. At present 6,000 CSCs are functional for Jeevan Pramaan."

Secretary (DeitY) expressed concern at this.

"He stated that CSC SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) should be asked to continuously update their databank and ensure that correct contact details are displayed at all points of time. Secretary (Pension) shared the concern," it said.